Afro-punk cuts through the Big Apple 10-21-09

You asked for it and now the shit has started. Afro-punk took over New York at the Blender theater Wednesday night to kick off our first U.S. music tour, headlining with legendary poet and rising face on the punk scene, Saul Williams. Fans clung together as they hoisted Saul's body during a head-dive to the opening of his set, playing more than an hour long of crowd favorites like, "List of Demands" and "DNA." He even introduced a new song, "Patience," delivering an unexpected treat to the fans.

In the midst of Saul's set, Brooklyn duo CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo's pumped out their electric rock beats and invited girls onto the stage to flash the "krak" in their jeans-- all in ode to their hit song, Big Girls, Skinny Girls-- followed by a single off their unreleased album, Krak Attack 2: Back Krak with a Vengeance. The tour rocked off with performances by Rough Francis, the band composed of the Hackney brothers-- who are also sons of Bobby Hackney (former member of 70's Detroit rock band, Death). New York based, Activator, followed the brothers with their over the top guitar rifts that accompanied lead singer, Shannon's, rasp and grunge voice. Tonight the tour bus swoops into Cleveland, OH, opening with Houston's crazy bad boys, American Fangs. Saul Williams headlined the show dressed in a teal sports coat and tricked out matching feathers- spitting his controversial lyrics from his hit album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust. His daughter Saturn, along with his niece Autumn, joined Saul on stage to sing out, "WAAA, WAAA, WAAA, WAAA" at the end of a dope performance of List of Demands. Saul was later seen catching up with Chris Rock backstage at The Blender Theater.

Rough Francis, home of the Hackney brothers, were all about showing the fans that grunge music and love can come together. Considering that the band is composed of three sons of the legendary Bobby Hackney (Bobby Hackney Jr. on vocals, Julian Hackney on guitar, and Urian Hackney on drums), Afro-punk caught up with their drummer, 23-year-old Dylan Giambatista, to see what it's like to be in a band with a trio of siblings. Click here for interview.

New York metal boys, Activator, picked up the night before Saul's performance with lead singer Shannon singing deep rasps over bassists, Canvass's rifts. We caught up with them backstage and Shannon admitted that his father saw him perform for the first time that night at the Blender Theater. Canvass, who's been playing the bass for more than 20 years, who expressed his admiration of Afro-punk, saying, "the movement is growing into itself and is becoming a beautiful thing." The Activators were featured in the very first Afro-punk summer festival in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn duo CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo closed out the night with Saul,with bass booming electrifying sounds mixed with confetti and flashing lights. The Krak Attack team kept the energy intense with flying tricks off of stage equipment to their flashy outfits. CX wore his spaced-out flashing eye glasses and Tchaka sported his fitted skeleton vest. The boys got the crowd pumped when they performed their popular single, Big Girls, Skinny Girls and pulled several brave ladies to the stage to dance during their performance.

Afro-punkers also came out to the show wearing their Converse Chuck Taylors with flavor and attitude, all to end a perfectly rocking night.

-Whitney Summer Boyd